And So, Once Again...

“My heart is broken in the face of the stupidity of my species. I can’t cry about it. In a way I’m inoculated." ~Joni Mitchell

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Joni wrote this piece in 1969, as a "friend of America" during the Vietnam era. Now, just shy of 40 years later, the words are, almost eerily, still relevant.

This is an a cappella piece; I've always liked it. Nothing but her pure voice and the lyrics, which somehow punctuates the gravity of the message itself. The musical intervals aren't what you'd expect, and it's no cakewalk to sing a piece like this sans instrumentation. But, she's Joni.

I hope you'll give it a listen. Lots of Joni's songs transcend time, but this piece is particularly fitting in today's political climate.




The Fiddle and The Drum - Joni Mitchell

I guess Joni realized just how relevant this piece is, in current times. Last year she collaborated with the Alberta Ballet on The Fiddle and The Drum, a project in which ballet dancers perform to her music, against a backdrop of her art. The theme has to do with the warring nature of humans, and how we're affecting the earth.

Ralph Nader: Always a Bridesmaid ...

NOOOOOOOOO! I was woken this morning by my radio, spewing the news that Ralph Nader is running for the presidency. For the fifth time. The fifth time! Dude is 3 years older than Grandpa McCain.

Of course, Republicans are thrilled. As always.

Gary Markstein 2004

In fact, this is how thrilled the Republicans were the last time Ralph threw his hat into the ring:

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader's quixotic presidential campaign says it submitted about 5,400 signatures to get on the Michigan ballot, far short of the required number of 30,000.

Luckily for him, approximately 43,000 signatures were filed by Michigan Republicans on his behalf, more than meeting the requirement.
--ABC News, 2004

What? I'm sorry, but when Republicans are signing the guy's petition in greater numbers than his own supporters, when Republicans want this Lefty on the ballot that ballot that badly ... his candidacy probably is not a good bet for the progressive movement, mmm-kay?

Of course we all remember the disputed lore of the 97,000+ Florida votes that went to Nader in 2000, and how that, combined with the Republican election fraud fuckery, cost Gore Florida, which cost ... well, you know the rest.

For want of a battle ...

Funny part of that story is, Nader never had a chance, and he knew that, but his petulant insistence on playing with the big boys may have cost the country the chance to have the Greenest president ever. But hey, at least he had his 15 minutes.

This from Planetary Movement:

At any rate, Ralph Nader is emerging as a threat via the ancient and outmoded electoral machinery still in position in America in 2008. Nader’s candidacy could shift electoral votes in marginal battleground states and provide a smokescreen for election-rigging just as it did in Florida in 2000 and in several places in 2004.

I'm thinking voters this time around are tired of Ralph. I mean, come on, Ralph, even my Ex takes a hint better than you do, and he's not one for subtle cues. I think after the Florida farce, potential Naderites have figured out that a vote for Nader is just throwing a vote to McCain, as it was throwing a vote to Bush in the last 2 elections.

I'm hoping most folks see that yet another Nader run is not going to change the system, which is what the 3rd party contingent is really pushing for to begin with. I'm thinking, if anything, Nader is hurting that cause. I mean, face it, Ralph, you're becoming an annoying fixture. So the whole concept of a 3rd party challenge becomes old news. Not a realistic option. Same old guy. A guy who, for all his talk of social justice, isn't really all that supportive of the populations who might be willing to jump on his bandwagon, populations who may feel marginalized by the other parties. Women, communities of color, the LGBT community, Latino communities, all have reported that Nader, for all his "change the system" blather, is basically anti-corporation, pro-political reform, and that's his bag of tricks. I'm hoping those who want to make a statement have had enough years to see that Nader's not the guy to make it worth their while.

Ralph, please, not this time. Not this year. Look at the bigger picture, dude. Look at what's happening this time. Just go home.

Debate This

So did you all watch the Democratic Debates tonight? I was both pleased and a tad disappointed. The last time our good senators mixed it up on the debate floor, it was a time for partnership and warm fuzzies. Edwards had recently stepped out, the two remaining Dems were feeling magnanimous and were all about that united front. There was plenty of time for competitive discourse later.


Since then, primaries and caucuses have come and gone. The race is running close, but the presumed front runner is instead playing catch up, and her opponent is gathering up states like a kid winning marbles on a hot streak. Things are getting down to the wire, right? Naturally, I expected something of a lively dustup tonight.

Not so much. Or at least, not for long. They sparred a bit over health care, with Clinton interrupting the moderator and pushing ahead, but it wasn't too bad. People do want to know where they differ, and I don't blame her for wanting to get her point across on an issue she feels is a strength.

Things did get a little ugly on the Clinton side for a hot minute -- she hit Obama with that whole plagiarism accusation in a cheap shot kind of way:

If your candidacy is going to be about words, lifting whole phrases from somebody else's speeches is not change you can believe in, it's change you can Xerox.

She got booed for that one. Obama kept his cool and had a great response, which basically diffused it and put it to rest. I found her remark interesting, considering I'd just written about Clinton using Obama lines in her speeches, but hey, whatever.

She did end up recovering with a great closing comment, which I had to give her props for. However, I later found out that bloggers uncovered an uncanny similarity between that home run closer, and a line from one of Bill Clinton's 1992 speeches. Hmm. Now that's some sweet irony. Wonder if Bill will go after her for plagiarism?

Damn those pesky bloggers.

Obama, for his part, stayed steady and didn't go negative at all. He came off as very confident and looking like a leader. All in all, it was fairly civil, considering what's at stake. The news analysts made the point afterward that for the direction of the race to change dramatically, either Clinton needed to score big, or Obama needed to stumble, but neither happened. I guess as far as juicy campaign gossip we'll have to be content with the McCain lobbyist brouhaha.

So they both did well overall - not surprising. Clinton is usually expected to do well in debates, and Obama did better than ever, flying up that sheer face of the political learning curve. With wings.

Anyway, in this age of YouTube and news ad nauseum, I won't go into a blow by blow. In fact, on this debate night, I think I'll take a lighter tone and leave you with a reminder of debates past and presidents I-wish-he-was-past.

It won't be long now. Enjoy.



Wordsworth takes on GeeDubya

Santa Bush: Man or Myth?

This just in. Heidi Harris, conservative radio talk show host, commenting on whether Michelle Obama is proud of America:

We've got President Bush out in Africa, like Santa Claus, giving out money left and right. That's not something to be proud of? She should be thrilled about that!

Well. That changes everything then.

Hey, That's My Line!

This has been one interesting political campaign. Voters turning out in record numbers, contributing money, getting involved, casting their votes - without holding their noses. It's been a tight race on the Democrat side, and a lesser-of-evils type deal on the Republican side.

The frontrunner on the Republican side is seen by some as not conservative enough. Others realize that after 8 years of BushCo, they'd better latch onto someone more centrist, because the country as whole is clamoring for change. But realizing it doesn't mean they're happy about it. There's some nose holding going on over in that side of the house.

The current frontrunner on the Dem side is seen as the new guy in town, a fresh wind blowing across a stale, even rotten, political landscape. Some say that's just what we need, others ask how he'll run the country with all that water behind his ears. Regardless, Obama has been riding that wind of Hope and Change to record turnouts and massive support, right under the noses of the naysayers.

Well, it's politics -- you strike where you can to get an advantage, so while the masses are gathering behind Obama's message, the other candidates are doing what they can to shoot that message down. Both sides have attempted to paint Hope and Change as empty messages, as "rhetoric" and "platitudes".

That's no surprise. What is interesting to me is those winds of change have ruffled even the petticoats of those who would belittle those messages. In fact, the very ones who would disparage those platforms now appear to be shamelessly swinging themselves up on that bandwagon. Eventually, the words hope and change were peppering everyone's speeches, even while they continued to cluck their tongues at the audacity and foolishness of hope.

And the slogans, well, those started changing hands like the proverbial hot potato.


Erstwhile candidate Mitt Romney actually popped out campaign signs announcing, Change Begins With Us. Kind of reminds me of something ... but no, that's totally different from Obama's Change We Can Believe In. Isn't it?

According to The Page's Mark Halperin, Clinton put out a radio ad in Iowa casting herself as "the candidate of hope." That just seems odd to me, after past comments about Obama "peddling false hopes", but whatever. Clinton also tried the slogan Ready for Change, Ready to Lead. I'm not sure what happened with that one, it didn't seem to stick.

John McCain is not even shy about grabbing blue slogans from wherever he can get them. Here he's shamelessly pilfered a Hillary slogan, Ready to Lead on Day One, plastering it across his own website. Like he thought of that shit or something. Come on, John. Everyone knows that's Hillary's line. Did you seriously think no one would notice?

After the Potomac Primaries, McCain actually had the nerve to end a speech in Alexandria, VA with a well known Obama slogan, saying,

“My friends, I promise you, I am fired up and ready to go.”

Are you kidding me? Alright sir, that's enough; eyes on your own paper.



McCain's not the only one who's fired up and ready to go. In Davenport, Iowa, Hillary busted out with,

We are fired up and we are ready to go, because we know that America is ready for change, and the process starts right here.

Really? You too, Hillary?

That line started with Edith Childs, a city councilwoman in Greenwood, SC. The story goes that Obama arrived for an unscheduled rally in this little town, where about 38 supporters had turned out to hear him speak. It was raining, it was an early morning stop, everyone was tired, wet, and bordering on grumpy. As Obama was greeting supporters, Ms. Childs, who had used that same chant years ago during the civil rights movement, called out from the back of the room,

Fired up!

The other supporters responded, "Fired up!" Obama and his staff looked around to see who was speaking. They saw Councilwoman Childs, a diminutive 59 year old woman "in a church hat", following with,

Ready to go!

The small crowd again responded in kind, "Ready to go!" The call and reponse continued, much to Obama's surprise, for some time. Fired up! (fired up!) Ready to go! (ready to go!) According to him, after so many rounds of this chant, he was feeling pretty fired up himself, and was ready to go.

The chant caught on so strongly that Obama later refered to it in a speech about the difference one voice can make. The chant and the "One Voice" speech inspired this music video, entirely made and donated by Obama supporters, including drummer Matt Cameron from Pearl Jam and Reverend Pat Wright and her Total Experience Gospel Choir. This is one rocking video, coming from that one voice.




So yeah, let's stipulate that fired up and ready to go is clearly associated with the Obama campaign. You other candidates, get your own tag lines, mmm-kay?



Next we've got Hillary hopping on Obama's "Yes We Can" slogan ... after accusing Obama of being the "No We Can't" candidate. What?

(18 seconds)





Apparently she caught a little bit of flak for that. So here we have Hillary with a completely ... new chant? Alrighty then. You be the judge.

(about 30 seconds)



[Cringe] That was a little hard to watch.


Anyway, I know this is far from the most critical issue in the political arena, and yes, many of the slogans being used now have been used in the past as well. I just found it interesting that the concepts and tag lines being filched seem to be the same ideas people wanted to ridicule as being ineffective. How 'bout that? Everyone wanted to dismiss the message of Hope and Change, brand it naïve, unrealistic, but then a funny thing happened. The people started lining up behind it, demanding it, and all of a sudden that message started falling out of everyone's mouths.

Not so silly now, is it?

The Canine Chronicles

We actually had two days of sunshine, which helped my mood considerably, so I loaded up the dogs and took them to a local park with trails in a big wooded area. With all the fuckery of this year -- everyone's illnesses, Batman's tooth surgery, the car mess, our regular schedules and the constant rain -- I haven't had the boys out to run much as much as I should.

They were thrilled at being turned loose in this dog paradise. Mason, old as he is, looked like a joyful puppy, trotting back and forth, nosing around, finding stinky things. Dogs are so weird about stinky things. I think Batman saw a squirrel, because he was doing his best greyhound imitation when all of a sudden he stumbled, stopped short, and was yelping and howling like a four-legged banshee. I'd never heard Batman cry before. He's very stoic when in pain, and tends to mask it. When he broke that huge tooth off at the base, we didn't even know it until it fell out of his mouth.

I thought he'd gotten tangled in blackberry bushes, and took off to free him from the thorny bonds. When I got there, no blackberry bushes in sight, but he was stumbling, still yelping and crying. His leg was just hanging there, not moving. Shit. I'd never seen him actually look afraid before.

The son had seen it from a different angle. Batman had run into a jagged tree stump. His back leg got caught in it and probably got twisted. He couldn't walk, even on three legs.

Thank goodness I had my son with me. He carried Batman more than a quarter mile to the car. That may not sound like much, but you try carrying 70 pounds of scared, squirming Labradog in an uncomfortable position and make it around your local track one and a half times. There is no way I'd have been able to get both dogs out of there without him.
Anyway, in typical Batman fashion, this happened on a holiday weekend, and my vet was out of town. Sound familiar? Yeah, that's how we roll here. We described the symptoms to our vet, who was in Arizona, and who happens to be Male Offspring's girlfriend's mom. She said we could wait until morning as long as we kept him immobilized.

Luckily the vet's office was open the next day, President's Day, otherwise I'd be bending over for the emergency vet's version of a Sloe Comfortable Screw. There were no open appointments, but we were welcome to drop him off and they'd get to him between appointments. I really didn't want to drop him off, but it was either that or suffer the perverse ministrations of emergency vet. I dropped him off.

This is actually genius, from the vet's standpoint: they get to charge me for the non-existent appointment and in-house, drop-off care. They may not ram it home as hard as emergency vet, but they've got their own techniques.



Unbelievably, the leg is probably not broken. It's still swollen, but definitely not a clean snap, the bone feels okay. There is still the possibility of a hairline fracture, or a badly torn ligament, but they're thinking it's just a strained ligament. If he doesn't improve by tomorrow morning, I'll bend over again for further measures, but I'm hoping that won't be necessary. He is putting weight on it now, most of the time, although he still holds it up at times. He's got good drugs, so he doesn't care much, and he's got squirty stuff to put in the ear which had been bothering him. Yeah, he hates that part.

I'm just glad he's probably going to be okay, and that the son was with me.

Next time, Batman, can you please, for once, try for a weekday when our vet is in town? Thanks.

East End Boys & West End Girls

I Need More Cowbell is going on haitus. Sort of.

I've joined a cult. No, I've not been converted by the likes of Tom Cruise or the Mittster. It's more like a Cyber Cult of the Crazy. In a good way.

Apparently, I do, in fact, need more cowbell.

I am a member of a no-longer-secret society known as East End Boys & West End Girls. That's right folks, I'll be mixing it up at that mythical cyber entity known as A Group Blog. That bright-eyed kitschy little lass up there is who you will see representing me over in my new digs. (So no, this post actually has nothing to do with smashing the white racist, homophobic, patriarchal bullshit paradigm. But you know I'll get to that eventually.)

I, however, unlike my esteemed colleagues (damn but that gives the whole venture a professional ring), am reluctant to completely give up my Cowbell site. It probably says something about me at a deeper level; all sorts of theories come to mind, involving independence, latent OCD issues, bridge burning, and not leaping into new situations before I look, measure, and consider heavily over red wine. Probably though, it has more to do with the fact that I'm still a relatively new blogger, and haven't yet reached the "OK, what now?" point. It also could have something to do with the fact that I still need a place to shamelessly post Barack Obama pictures in my sidebar.

So, in typical Cowbell fashion, I'm going with the flow. You can find me and my cyber roommates, Auld Hat, Red7Eric, and Maine Gay over at East End Boys & West Girls, but I will still be knocking around this place from time to time. I can't tell you when or why, as I'm basically blogging by the seat of my pants. (Which, by the way, was one of the many clever blog names we came up with for this venture, which was loads of fun, though it did bring out our anal tendencies.) Probably I'll come here for extreme bitching that might scare my roomies, because y'all know I can get my bitch on, or ... oh who the hell knows. I'm not cutting the strings, and that's about all I can tell you, because that's all I've figured out.

So check us out! I promise you'll find fun and entertainment, and probably naughty bits as well.

Sziasztok!

Love's Recovery

This post is a day late and a dollar short, which is perfect, considering the subject. Yesterday, February 15th, was Singles Awareness Day. It was also my former anniversary. I know, right? We didn't have rain on our wedding day, but really, one's former anniversary falling on Singles Awareness Day is even better. We were supposed to be married on Valentine's Day, but had to wait a day for the license. Every year people asked, "Why didn't you just get married on Valentine's Day?"

I think it worked out perfectly. Single's Awareness Day was just waiting to amuse me.

Lots of single folks bemoan the existence of Valentine's Day. The flowers, the chocolates, the jewelry, the surprise dinners, the chipped teeth from hidden rings in cakes and champagne. Even partnered people hate Valentine's Day. The pressure to think of something unique with which to prove your unflagging love. The unspoken competition to outdo your girlfriend's girlfriends' boyfriends. The whole thing seems a cunning conspiracy meant to torture partnered and single people alike, stamped with the Hallmark gold seal of approval.

Whatever. Valentine's Day does not find me tracing the tracks of my tears to the strains of old love songs. It does not find me lamenting lost relationships through the sad filter of a lone wine glass. Valentine's Day, these days, is just another day. If anything, it reminds me that I am strong, that I have choice, that there are many things worse than not having a partner. It reminds me that being alone does not have to mean being lonely. Singles Awareness Day falling on my former anniversary is just a deliciously ironic twist.

And you all know I love some twisted humor.

Back in the 80s, the ex and I -- soldiers both, in the service of Uncle Sam -- were dating. We met in communications school, after basic training, through a convoluted course of mistaken identities, which is another tale altogether. After a few months, our class came down on orders. His orders were for Germany; mine, Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Now those of you familiar with my sun addiction know that Arizona could've well been the best thing to ever happen to me. Being embroiled in the throes of young lust, however, we were devastated. So we made the only choice that kids who think they know everything could make: "Let's get married! Then we can apply for the Army married couples program and be together! Forever!" So we did.

My orders to Arizona were changed to Germany, and the course of my life was changed forever.

Three years later, the Bohemian was born, and not long after, Teen Demon made her raucous entry into the world. After a suitable time of recovery, the Male Offspring finished off the fruits of my labors. These are the positives I took away from 10 years of marriage, and the reason I can't regret the choice made on a long-ago February 15th.

The 11th year found me back in the States after discovering that the "forsaking all others" bit had fallen by the wayside along about the time I'd been laboring with Male Offspring. February 15th of that 11th year brought, not an anniversary, but a legal summons, informing me that the ex had changed his mind about our signed agreement. He now wanted full custody.

I came away with custody and a load of legal debt that took years to repay. The ex and I got past our differences, I went back to Europe, and we had a great co-parenting relationship for about eight years there. That was actually a best-of-both-worlds deal: the kids had both parents, and we each had a built-in babysitter for hot date nights or weekend trips. Those of you who know the rest of the story are aware that this, unfortunately, did not continue. The ex now lives 12 time zones away rather than across town, co-parenting has gone the way of the dodo, and he brings the follow-up wife, whom no one gets on with, along for his annual week with our kids.

All of this leading to the point that things change, and we get through. The Valentine's Day - February 15th combo has run the emotional gamut for me, over the years. From new love and happiness, to security, to devastation, to fury, to bitterness, to indifference, to wry humor. I came out the other side, and can laugh now, because time allows me to see that what I once believed was the worst thing that could happen to me, was, in actuality, the best. Once, I was devastated to the point of being unable to function. I couldn't comprehend how my heart could continue to beat, how my lungs could continue to draw breath, how my organs could continue to function minute by minute in the face of such unimaginable pain.

Seriously. I wondered how my body didn't just die.

But it didn't. These days, what seems unimaginable to me is the thought of not going through that, of not knowing myself. We made a damn good go of it; we were 18-year-old, foolish kids from different cultures, from opposite ends of the country, who'd known each other three months. We made it 10 years and three fantastic kids on that platform, far from friends and family, with minimal support. We had a good run, and the kids, the lasting proof of that erstwhile union, are already making a positive impact on society. But the marriage was not the right place for me to be.

So Valentine's Day and February 15th aren't much more than a blip on the calendar for me these days. A toast to choices made. No regrets.

Hindsight is a clear-sighted bitch, y'all.

Happy love yourself day.

There I am in younger days, star gazing
Painting picture-perfect maps
Of how my life and love would be,
Not counting the unmarked paths of misdirection,
My compass, faith in love's perfection,
I missed ten million miles of road I should have seen

Indigo Girls, Love's Recovery

GObama! The Speech and the Caucus

On Friday I took the offspring out of school and headed to the city to hear Barack Obama speak. For the kids to hear this man speak, to have that memory -- totally worth missing Biology lab. However this election shakes out, it's historic! I wanted them to experience history being made, and yes, to see that someone who looks like them could well be the next president of this country. So we scooped up one of Teen Demon's friends and headed downtown.

Key Arena was packed to the rafters -- not an empty seat in the house, and people standing in every entryway as well. The arena holds 18,000, but the Seattle mayor said it was a good thing the fire chief had the day off; I bet there were some fire code violations. Outside were 3,000 more people who couldn't get in, including a friend of mine, her 16-year-old nephew, and his friend. Senator Obama went outside with a bullhorn and spoke to those folks after his speech.

This pic shows probably 1/3 of the arena, when people were still filing in to find seats.

Our governor made a surprise appearance, and with her endorsement, came out as the "newest member of Team Obama". Apparently she'd been having a hard time deciding between Clinton and Obama, as had many people.

My favorite shot. As you can see, it clearly shows that the good Senator and I shared a moment. See? He's looking right at me. Yeah, Barack and I, we're tight like that. Hi, Senator.

These guys were working it. Their enthusiasm made up for the jerky awkward dance moves. These boys were serious supporters, now.

It was an amazing experience. And hell yes, it was inspiring.

And I'll tell you something, I'm getting tired of the generalizations that say Obama is all talk and Clinton is all specifics. I've been listening to the speeches both of them have been giving lately, and you know, Clinton isn't giving any more specifics in her speeches than Obama is. Which is fine. I expect them to have specifics on their web sites. I expect them to have specific plans for the issues, and I expect those plans to be available to the voters. I expect them to be specific during the debates. But when I take a day off work, take my kids out of school, and wait for hours to hear this man connect with his supporters and speak for 50 minutes ... I damn well expect to be inspired. I expect to walk away with some hope that day.

I don't believe that hope and specifics are mutually exclusive, that a person who is a good orator is by default an empty vessel of inspiration with nothing to back it up. I think that's just something to latch onto and make waves about.


Here's what Senator Obama had to say about hope last Friday:

People have been saying, "You know, Obama, he’s a talker, not a doer. He talks about hope all the time. You know, he uh, he’s so naïve, he’s so idealistic. He’s a hope monger." This is the argument I’ve been hearing lately.
You know, look, it’s true; I do talk about hope all the time. And out of necessity, because, the odds are, I should not be standing here. I was born to a single mom, my dad left when I was two. I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. And all they could give me was love, an education, and hope. That was my inheritance.

And so, (cheers) and so, you know, we put hope on our signs ...

But in criticizing me, for quote-unquote “being inspiring”, (laughter) the implication is that I’m somehow not a realist, the notion is that my head is in the clouds somewhere. That, in Senator Clinton’s words, I’m “peddling false hopes”, and I need a reality check.

And, I have to, I have to say, you know, that’s not what hope is. Hope is not blind optimism. Hope is not ignorance of the challenges that stand before us. Hope is not pretending that those barriers that stand between you and your dreams will just somehow go away. Hope is just the opposite.

He went on to talk about the the changes he hopes to make in this country. And yes, I came away feeling hopeful. I was inspired. I saw hope in the faces of my children, as they watched this man speak, a man whose childhood is not so far from their own experiences and realities. I saw hope in my children's faces, and that is something I'll never forget.


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


The next day was the caucuses. Caucii? Whatever, there was some serious caucus action going down in Washington state. Record turnouts don't even begin to describe it. Main roads were backed up for miles. The caucus point for my area was a huge high school. Parking lots for the high school, middle school, and elementary school were already packed. People were parking out in the neighborhoods, streaming toward the high school on foot. Some folks parked over a mile away.

I have never seen so many people on foot in the suburbs, y'all. It looked like The Birds, only with humans. Some people didn't get there in time due to traffic and parking issues.

Get me to the caucus on time.

I finally found my precinct in this room. This pic was about an hour before the caucus even started. By the time we got rolling, this room was packed, and it was only one room of many. Hundreds and hundreds of people - I'd bet it was into the thousands.

I live in a tiny precinct. I could easily walk the precinct borders in short order. We set a record for attendance, with 27 people, not including the six late-comers. More about that later; it got dicey up in that gym for a while. Folks from other precincts said theirs set records as well.

Surprise visit from the governor. She gave a pretty rousing speech for a skinny, little, white grandma. Girl is scrappy.

So we got down to the actual business of caucusing. It was exciting to see democracy in action at a grassroots level. I ended up getting more involved than I'd anticipated. All that research I ended up doing over the primary vs. caucus issue paid off, I guess. Our precinct captain was a very nice guy. He was also extremely disorganized, and gave the impression that he'd read the rules on his way over, while stuck in all that traffic. A few of us banded together, after exchanging some concerned looks, and became unofficial assistants.

Our group went Obama-24, Clinton-3. Clinton did get one delegate. Yes, a candidate can acquire a delegate by "rounding up", as you can't send half a delegate on a candidate's behalf.

After the tally, people had the opportunity to make a plea on their candidate's behalf. In our group, about five of us spoke for Obama, and I was actually disappointed that the Clinton supporters chose not to speak, because I'd been looking forward to that, and genuinely wanted to hear what they had to say. Some of the other precincts, however, did quite a bit of back and forth. I was impressed that everyone who spoke mentioned that both candidates were strong, both were respected, and both would be good leaders. No mud-slinging or nastiness. Go Dems! After that, people had the opportunity to change their original vote, but no one in our group did, so the tally numbers for delegates went official.

About this time the late-comers started showing up, and that's where things got dicey. According to caucus rules, you must be signed in with your choice by 1:30. The late-comers were already pissed and winded after parking in the next county and hiking over hill and dale to get there, so that news did not go over well. Debate ensued. Our precinct captain didn't know what to do. Some folks said we should just sign everyone in, regardless. Our not-so-fearless captain started to do this. I was concerned that breaking some sort of party rules could lead to all the precinct's delegates being invalidated. Several others felt the same way; we said we'd feel better if we had confirmation from the district chair before we made a decision. Our captain loped off to find the district chair.

Now the newcomers were looking at us like we were haters, and the "just sign them up" crowd was looking at their feet. Things definitely felt uncomfortable. I went and talked with the newcomers, I really did feel bad for them. I mean, we all had problems with traffic and parking, even those who got there early. I thought all the votes should be counted, and I felt the party should've better anticipated high turnout, and either had more caucus points, or run shuttles from various points in the community, along with getting the word out beforehand to get there early. Anyway, before our captain returned, everyone was friendly again, which was good.

Turns out the district chair said we could not break the rules, and that it would've been subject to objection if we had. However, the late-comers could still have the opportunity to be a delegate, so that was cool. One of them actually did end up being an alternate.

I got chosen to be a delegate, so I'm pretty stoked about that. Whoo-hoo!



I have mixed feelings on the caucus process. On the one hand, people are really involved on a community level -- it was energizing, and people were talking and connecting. I was very impressed with how the community came together, and everyone was very supportive and friendly. It didn't much matter who you supported, there was an overriding feeling of excitement just that folks were exercising their right to vote, to be a part of the process. I also think people tend to be more informed with the caucus as opposed to the primary.

On the other hand, people who work on Saturday, who don't have transportation, who may be disabled, the elderly ... those folks have a hard time taking part, and their voices aren't heard in numbers that reflect their place in the population. That's a problem, one that needs to be addressed. (Yes, there is a form to vote in absentia, but it only applies to three situations: religious observances, military service, or disability)

I actually think there may be something to the WA Republicans' method. They do both a caucus and a primary: they choose half of their delegates though the caucus, and half via the primary. This way, you get the involvement, but people who may otherwise not have a voice still have a way to be counted. I'm still not sure, though, as you can also do both with the combo method, and I'm not sure that doesn't skew things. Anyway. So I have mixed feelings on the caucus system, but I really enjoyed it, and more than that, I felt encouraged and hopeful in spending that time with my community working toward a change.


This was about half an hour after everything wound down. It took quite a while for traffic to die down. Way to go, Dems.

Fired up, ready to go!

Sales Genie: a Lead on Racist Superbowl Ads

The Superbowl is the one time of year when I actually look forward to the commercials. While there were a few good spots, this year's crop of million dollar ads didn't blow me away. At least not in a good way. A few commercials, however, distinguished themselves with varying doses of good old fashioned racist stereotyping. Let's start with Sales Genie.

Sales Genie sells information. Sales leads, to be exact. That's right, they provide consumer information to the telemarketers. Next time your land line rings during dinner, and it's that guy from the Sears Credit Protection Plan you've been dying to hear from, you may well have Sales Genie to thank.

According to their site, they can provide info on 210million consumers, covering 95% of US households. We're not just talking phone numbers, either, oh no -- Sales Genie is so much more than that. For a fee, they will provide all manner of interesting nuggets on these US consumers (that's you and me), such as income, home value, age, gender, years at residence, ethnicity, bankruptcy status, and more.

That's right folks, they even offer instruction on accessing "sensitive data", such as ethnicity or whether there are children in the home. They also inform you that even though consumer calls must be within the federal "Do Not Call" guidelines, you may still request that your sales leads include those "Do Not Call" numbers, simply by checking a box. Don't ask, don't tell, y'all!



So that's who they are. Let's see how they advertised their services during the most coveted of all TV timeslots:




See, this is where diversity in hiring pays off. Did no one on their marketing team step forward and say, "You know ... this might not play so well, boss"? Really? Who did those accents? I'm surprised they didn't go with straw hats and protruding teeth, à la Abercrombie and Fitch. Jeff Bercovici of Porfolio magazine, reports that the spokesperson for OCA, an Asian-Pacific Americans advocacy group had this to say:

We found it really racist. We'll be discussing how to respond once we have everybody in the office, but some of our members have already been contacting us. It was really offensive.

Of course, many people disagree. I love when White folks get to decide that something isn't racist. Here are some of the more common justifications floating around on The Internets:

Panda bears are Chinese, so panda bears in cartoons would have a Chinese accent.

Yes, I'm serious. I saw this comment not just once, but several times.

1) Panda bears are animals, therefore, they do not speak.

2) An animal indigenous to a certain region of the world does not take on the characteristics of humans who are indigenous to that part of the world. (There is the exception of Paris Hilton's dog wearing pink dresses, but that's involuntary on the part of the dog.)

3) The "accent" in this ad is ridiculous. It is nothing more than an anthropomorphic attempt to disguise a stereotypical caricature of an accent as an actual accent. It's demeaning.

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What about the Kangaroo with the Australian accent, huh? Huh? Nobody's bitching about him. You're the racist!

In American culture, some accents are viewed as "good", while others are viewed as "bad". The list of desirable accents includes French, British, South African, Australian, Swedish (especially on hot tall blonde females), and the like. German too, though folks seem to prefer the way French rolls off the tongue. People with these accents are often assumed to be sexy, smart, cultured, worldly, and/or interesting. They are also often assumed to be White.

Accents on the undesirable list include any variety of Asian accent, Indian (as in from India), and Spanish accents -- unless actually from Spain. This list also includes Black folks who sound "too ethnic", Native peoples, and some Southerners, even though these aren't "foreign" languages. People on the undesirable accent list are often assumed to be ignorant, lazy, stupid, disruptive, sneaky, primitive, poor, uncultured, criminals, or any combination of the above. They are also, with the exception of Southerners, assumed to be people of color. Interesting how that shakes out.

So advertising a shampoo or some insurance with an Australian-sounding lizard or 'roo has a whole different connotation than some pandas whose stereotypical accents smack of the Chinaman caricatures in old movies. The pandas in this spot are portrayed as not the sharpest quadripeds in the jungle, buffoons to laugh at, whereas the lizard (you know who I'm talking about) makes you want to go buy insurance and take him up on that offer of crumpets.

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What about the psychic panda? She didn't have an accent at all! The characters were diverse! You're the racist!

Slow down, Maynard. The psychic panda did have an accent -- most likely it is very similar to your accent, thus you consider it "the norm". Beyond that, the psychic panda character is portrayed as the smart one, the rescuer. She's the one who shows the ignorant "Chinese pandas" the error of their ways and offers a solution. It's no coincidence she's the one portrayed with a generic White American accent, or, as you say, no accent at all. The hope is that viewers will also follow the sage advice of the psychic panda, and have a good laugh at the unfortunate Ching-Ching and Ling-Ling while they're at it.


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Moving on. Here is Sales Genie's other spot. This time the stars of the show are a very large family from India, obviously immigrants. Dad's boss is an Ebenezer Scrooge - Larry Tate hybrid.

Pretty much more of the same. Bad accents, stereotypical features (did you catch the wife's unibrow?), obsequious brown employee, powerful White boss. And what's that employee doing having all those kids if he can't even support them? Golly, Biff, good thing he called Sales Genie, or our tax dollars would be paying to keep all those kids in curry and saris!

Of course, many people had no problem with this one either:

I've seen so many Indian families with large numbers of kids. That's not racist, it's just reality. If it was a big White family, I wouldn't be offended. You're the racist!

I know you are, but what am I?

OK, you're right -- most likely you wouldn't feel offended if it were a large White family in the ad. And why should you? Having too many kids that you can't support is not an attribute generally applied to White people as a race. Because White folks are seen as individuals, whereas if an Indian (Mexican, Black...) family "has too many kids", it's seen as a racial trait or tendency. They've likely had to represent their race as well as themselves their whole lives. Can you see how they may feel offended where you would not? Had it been a large White family in the spot, you wouldn't have applied that to yourself in any way at all, because you probably don't even think of yourself in racial terms, you're just "the norm".


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You people are too sensitive. I have a friend from India, and he told us at work he thought it was funny. Lighten up! If it's ok with him, it should be ok with you.

1) Your friend is an individual. The fact that he personally doesn't find the commercial offensive does not translate into this commercial not being offensive to any Indian people.

2) People outside the dominant culture often feel pressure to go along with jokes aimed at their particular demographic. It's a way of separating themselves from that demographic in order to be seen as an individual, and aligning themselves with the dominant culture in order to avoid being labeled "too sensitive". It may also earn them the vaunted status of "one of the good ones". (I'm betting if he'd said it was racist, your Indian friend would suddenly not be so quotable.)

3) Just because it's ok with your friend, doesn't mean it has to be ok with me. He is not the spokesman for Indian people, or anyone else. He only speaks for himself.

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Whew. There were 2 other ads that fell along the same lines. First, Bud Light's Immigrant commercial:



Sigh. See above.

And the Black immigrant with the chicken? Are you kidding me? If someone says that's not a stereotype denoting primitive rituals, I'll scream. Again, the immigrants are portrayed as bumbling grinning idiots. Even the one who gets the White girl in the end is shown to be so stereotypical that it's seen as a joke rather than a possiblity. White men can remain secure in the knowledge that the funny little immigrant man poses no real threat.

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OK. Here's the last one.




Hola!

That's all I've got.

The Underdogs Pull It Out!!!

Whoooooooooooooo-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!


Eli and his boys pulled it off! A Wild Card team now, a team no one thought had a chance, came up to pick off the Perfect Season Patriots. Hell yeah baby.


And to those of you who told me it couldn't happen, who were even a little cocky about it ........ nah, I won't go there. Sorry, all you Pats fans, I feel for you; I know I'd be ready to bang my head into a brick wall if it were my team. But don't do that. That would feel almost as bad as Tom Brady feels after all those sacks.


And credit where credit is due, Teen Demon's been saying all season he'd win the Superbowl. You called it, baby.


They won't be calling Eli "little brother" any more. Go Giants, you guys deserve it.

It's Almost Kick Off Time!

What are you doing reading this blog?! Hello, Superbowl time ... Giants won the coin toss, it's almost time for kick off! Here we go ...

It's a Caucus ... Primarily

I just found out that my state has multiple voting mechanism disorder. I was under the impression that WA was a caucus state. I was kind of excited about that, as I've not experienced that before. I've been lumped into that "overseas voter group" most of my adult life, you know, the ones whose ballots come trailing in late, and don't matter anyway, but they won't call the election because "those votes from overseas are still trickling in, folks"? The base commanders always did a big "Your Vote Matters!" campaign, and the USO would push the message, but then we'd see on the news that those votes trickling in never changed the outcome one way or another. That was always disheartening. But I digress.

So Washington, a caucus state, right? The caucuses get going on Feb. 9th. Last week I got a slip in the mail saying the ballots for the Presidential Primary would be mailed on Jan. 31st. Primary?? What about the caucus? I checked The Googles, and sure enough, we're a caucus state. I figured it was just a semantics thing.

So yesterday I get my ballot in the mail, clearly marked for the Presidential Primary. Feb. 19th.

What? Primaries on the 19th? I thought the caucuses were Feb. 9th? Luckily, the trusty State of Washington Voter's Pamphlet came with the ballot, complete with cover art created by a genuine WA state school child, as is the tradition. The art contest is pretty cool. No problem, I'll just check the voter's pamphlet. It should tell me everything I need to know.

Right.

Voters can participate in both the party caucuses and the Presidential Primary as long as they participate on behalf of the same party.

Oh sure, that clears it up! It goes into very brief explanations about the caucus and delegates and all that, but nothing explaining how they're running primarys and caucuses, and how in hell that works. I mean, if I fill out my primary ballot form, send it in, and get my caucus on as well, does that mean I've basically double voted? Twice the input? Or, does it mean I'm just wasting my time at the caucus because it's all decided by the primary ballots anydamnway, and the caucus is just a huge waste of tax payer money? Or are the ballots a waste of money?

I will hit The Googles some more and figure this out, but please people, figuring out the democratic party's caucus system in those states is apparently complicated enough, but if you're going to go the caucus route, at least commit to it. Damn. Maybe some of you long term Washingtonians have figured this fuckery out, but I think it smacks of some major Charlie Fox action.

Vote or Scat!